VMware Workstation: Error on Power On: Failed to lock the file

A quick one this: After recovering from a hung VMware Workstation host, I was booting up the virtual machines and on one of them, I saw the following error:

Failed to lock the file.

Cannot open the disk <disk name> or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.

Module DiskEarly power on failed.

Failed to start the virtual machine.

This was unusual as I knew the disk was indeed there and there weren’t any snapshots of the machine in question. So, I went to the folder for that virtual machine and saw these extra files that I wasn’t expecting:

These “lck” folders are created when locks are placed on vmdk and vmem files when the machine is in the running state. As the machine wasn’t running, these folders shouldn’t have been there. Also, the vmem file shouldn’t be there if the machine is off.

Resolution was simple: Just delete these file and folders. Once done, the machine powered on just fine.

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Ather Beg is a technology and virtualisation blogger and is Chief Virtualogist at Virtualogists Ltd, which is a consultancy focusing on virtualised solutions. Ather has worked in IT for over 20 years and contributes his findings on this blog. In addition to holding several industry-related certifications, he has also been awarded vExpert status by VMware.